EVEN before it opens for business, the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) integrated resort is facing a High Court lawsuit.

A spa firm which had its tenancy rejected after a change of management in the IR has sued it for at least $250,000 – the minimum amount for High Court suits to start. Lawyers for both parties appeared in a closed-door court on Wednesday to discuss the exchange of documents in the run-up to the case.

Spa@Sands claims it was offered two units at the resort’s shopping complex, after which it paid close to $280,000 in upfront rent and stamp fees. It claims that it paid $233,660 for a month’s rent, along with about $45,000 in stamp fees.

According to court documents, its director, Mr Phang Song Hua, 43, was invited to make an offer to lease the premises in July last year. He is the founder of a geomancy and health lifestyle firm, New Trend Lifestyle. He registered Spa@Sands last July.

The rent offered by Mr Phang was priced at $10 per sq ft for the 23,366 sq ft area – about the size of 20 HDB five-room flats. In contrast, the rental at Ion Orchard is at least $30 psf.

Mr Phang claims that when MBS banked in the cheques for these sums, it showed that the IR had accepted the offer. Mr Phang had also signed and returned the lease that was attached to the letter of offer by the July 13 deadline.

Spa@Sands made a presentation to MBS senior management at their request and was told on Aug 12 that its offer had been accepted. At the same time, the two cheques were also cleared.

But a few days later, there was a change in the senior management at the IR. The following month, the spa was told that its offer had been rejected.

It is understood Spa@Sands is seeking damages to recover the manpower and other costs incurred in the preparations to start the spa. It is alternatively asking the court to declare there was a valid agreement between the parties.

MBS argued through lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam from Stamford Law that it had not accepted the offer, or it would have signed its acceptance in the letter of offer and returned it to Spa@Sands.

It pointed to a condition in the offer letter issued that states that unless the tenant’s offer is accepted by the landlord, the landlord had the right to deal with other parties. The sum paid by the spa was also refunded.

But the spa, through Unilegal’s Chan Fook Meng, took issue with the claim, pointing out that while MBS could have shown its acceptance by signing the offer letter after it was signed by the spa, that was not the only way which acceptance could be signified.

It said MBS showed acceptance by banking the cheques, and that there was verbal agreement by its staff. MBS was not limited to signing the offer letter but could vary its mode of acceptance.

Source: Straits Times, 30 Jan 2010

Ask a Singaporean to name a building that is distinctively local, and ‘an HDB block’ is most likely to be the answer.

Head out into the heartlands and blocks of public flats built by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) fill the landscape.

The HDB celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and also at some point during the year, it will have built its one millionth flat.

It was set up in 1960, at a time when most residents were living in unhygienic slums and crowded squatter settlements that were packed in the city centre.

Its task in taking over from its predecessor, the Singapore Improvement Trust, was to solve Singapore’s housing crisis. The first pressing issue was to build a large quantity of public flats at a low cost.

And build them, it did. In less than three years, the HDB built 21,000 flats.

By 1970, it had put up more than 100,000 flats, successfully housing more than 35 per cent of the population in its flats.

Today, 84 per cent of Singaporeans live in such flats.

While public flats remain largely high-rise ones, their look has changed over the last five decades.

The early flats were designed with minimum room sizes in mind. Costs were kept as low as possible to make them affordable. The early designs were one-, two- and three-room flats.

Exteriors were also kept basic – rectangular blocks with single corridors on each floor giving users access to flats.

Dr Milton Tan, 54, associate professor of architecture at the National University of Singapore, describes flats in the 1960s as simple and functional.

He explains: ‘They were slabs, as the HDB had to build them fast, and there was no time for redesign.’

He adds that with the slab blocks, the HDB had created a kind of template that it ‘rubber-stamped’ over the island.

Indeed, pictures of early housing estates such as in Queenstown and Toa Payoh show flats of this kind.

In the 1970s, with more neighbourhoods being built, flats took on a different look.

To differentiate one new town from another, new block shapes were introduced.

The late and former national development minister Teh Cheang Wan wrote in the 1975 book, Public Housing In Singapore: A Multi Disciplinary Study, that rather than traditional rectangular slab blocks, newer blocks took differing forms and in shapes such as L, U, pin wheel, Y and square or point blocks.

In the 1980s, the precinct concept was developed to provide more conducive settings for community interaction. Smaller clusters of housing blocks were served by facilities that promote neighbourliness.

‘The focus here was more on creating neighbourhoods, with playgrounds and park-like settings among the blocks rather than just on the block level,’ says DrTan.

In the 1990s, the Design and Build scheme involving the private sector in design and construction was introduced.

Among the first blocks built under this scheme were 620 flats in Tampines Street 45, spread over three linked octagonal blocks, each sporting a courtyard in the centre. They were completed in 1994.

Veteran architect Alan Low, 67, a director at architectural firm P&T Group who headed the project, says of the design: ‘It opened up people’s eyes that there was more than one way to design the blocks of flats. Block design doesn’t have to be so rigid.’

With the completion of the Pinnacle@ Duxton last year, the look of HDB flats has changed dramatically: Built in Duxton Plain, where the first two HDB blocks in the area were built, it is the board’s first 50-storey development.

Public housing looks set to become more exciting with upcoming projects.

For example, at the upcoming Treelodge@Punggol, HDB’s first eco-precinct, the blocks here will have features such as vertical greenery, where plants are grown in vertical spaces, rather than just on the ground. The project will be completed by the end of this year.

The now sleepy Dawson estate is set to come alive with two new 40-storey housing blocks due for completion in 2015. Called SkyTerrace@Dawson and SkyVille@Dawson, these have more elaborate facades and landscaping, with features such as sky gardens, small pockets of greenery built on the intermediate floors, where residents can gather.

Mr Wong Mun Summ, 47, co-founder of Woha which is designing SkyVille, says: ‘We looked at ways the architecture could bring back the kampung spirit and built this community idea into the design.’

Singapore’s first waterfront public housing project will be launched later this year. These will be 1,200 flats featuring sky terraces, roof gardens and panoramic views of the Punggol Waterway.

These blocks of flats, which are expected to be ready by 2014 or 2015 and whose tiered layout echoes hills of rice terraces, are designed by international architectural firm Group8asia and local firm Aedas.

Mr Tony Ang, 56, managing director of Aedas, says HDB flats have ‘grown taller, are more colourful and have better built quality and public amenities’.

HDB’s head of design policy and coordination Jeremiah Lim, 33, says when it comes to the design of public housing today, ‘we work to keep up with the trends and aspirations of home seekers’.

The board will be holding an exhibition of its last 50 years at the HDB Hub in Toa Payoh, starting today, till next Sunday.

Life! takes a closer look at how public housing has changed over the past 50 years.

——————————————————————————–
Slab-like blocks to condo-type flats

An ongoing exhibition at HDB Hub traces the board’s history and milestones. Here is a quick look at how its flat designs have changed in the last 50 years.

Early flats in Queenstown

When the HDB was set up in 1960, its task was to solve the nation’s housing crisis. Homes had to be built fast. The first flats were built in Queenstown.

The slab block look

Flats then were built in slab blocks, with a central access corridor on each floor. This was the most economical way of arranging the flats.

Variety in block design

Over the years, the designs of blocks changed to include more variety in their appearance. This included varying the heights, colours, columns, facade detailing and roof treatments.

First Design and Build flats

In 1991, HDB introduced the Design and Build scheme, which involved the private sector in design and construction. The first flats built under this scheme were 620 units in Tampines Street 45. Built by architecture firm P&T Group, the flats were spread across three linked octagonal blocks.

Condo-style HDB flats

In 2005, HDB launched the Design, Build and Sell Scheme, allowing the private sector to design, build and sell HDB flats. The result is The Premiere @ Tampines – its first condo-style flats. They came with glass-panelled private balconies, which were not found in normal HDB flats.

Pinnacle@Duxton

HDB’s first 50-storey development, which was completed late last year. It consists of seven blocks linked by skybridges on the 26th and 50th storeys. The blocks are designed in a hook shape, so no resident looks into his neighbours’ flats.

Treelodge@Punggol

Launched in 2007, this is HDB’s first eco-precinct and will be ready by the end of the year. The flats will have green features such as solar-powered corridor lighting and common areas that will be cleaned using recycled rainwater, as well as vertical greening, where plants are grown on the higher floors.

First waterfront public housing project

These flats in Punggol will line the 4.2km Punggol Waterway. Its unique design are its blocks of flats that will ’step down’ towards the water like terraces and have solar panels on their rooftops to supply power to common areas.

SkyTerrace@Dawson and SkyVille@Dawson

Launched for sale last month and scheduled to be completed in 2015, these are two towers of flats that are more than 40 storeys high. Designed by award-winning firms SCDA and Woha respectively, these boast more elaborate facades and sky gardens.

Source: Straits Times, 30 Jan 2010

IT is ghosts of the past that worry hoteliers most when they convert old buildings into new lodgings – and not the supernatural kind. ‘With old buildings, you never know what you are getting into. You find faults you didn’t see before, once you start work on them,’ says Loh Lik Peng, who owns Hotel 1929 and New Majestic Hotel in the Chinatown area, both of which occupy pre-war structures. On top of that, he adds, engineering is costly and ‘a pain’, because such buildings have no grid; as a result, there can be no replication in design as every room has different dimensions.

Then there are restrictions on the extent to which the original structures may be modified. Take Wangz Hotel, for instance: the month-old hotel, which occupies a 20-year-old building at Outram Road, is located near an MRT tunnel, so it had to work around a structural load constraint. Says its director, Wang Chang Yuin: ‘Our structural engineer had to perform meticulous calculations on both internal and external loading to ensure that we didn’t put additional load on the building. The existing facade tiles and internal walls were removed, and lightweight materials, such as the external perforated aluminium cladding, were used instead.’

Still, such hurdles have not stunted the growth of a new boutique-hotel culture – crafted out of mature buildings – here. Over the past few months, several such lodgings have sprung up and more will open within the first half of this year, including a new venture by Mr Loh.

The magnetic appeal of these projects, which are generally more costly than constructing something from scratch, lies in the fact that they are rich in history, local flavour and charm, says the hotelier. ‘There’s something about old buildings that really captures my interest. There are layers of history imbued in them, and it’s like you’re peeling them back when you do your renovations and incorporating them with a new interpretation. I would never look at an empty plot of land and say that,’ he says.

Adds James Ting, general manager of Nostalgia Hotel, a six-month-old business that takes up two heritage shophouses in Tiong Bahru: ‘These buildings possess rich historical value. In converting them into new premises, we can preserve a part of Singapore’s history, perhaps for the younger generation to appreciate in future. Additionally, through the hotel’s architecture and retelling of its history, guests can get an insight into Singapore’s story and have a unique experience that is different from the monotony of chain hotels.’

BT Weekend takes a look at four new-old hotels that form part of the burgeoning boutique accommodation culture here.

Wanderlust
2 Dickson Road
To open by mid-year

DICKSON Road is a pretty offbeat location for a trendy hotel, what with the motor workshops, Chinese-style ‘beer garden’ and coffee shops that line it. But then, owner and lawyer-turned-hotelier Loh Lik Peng has never been one to follow convention. ‘Very often, a project is not about the location,’ he says. ‘It’s about falling in love with the building; looking at it and seeing a little gem there. It’s not about being near an MRT station; I never look at projects that way.’

His latest hotel, then, takes up a charming, tiled-front building that was constructed in the 1920s. ‘This was the Hong Wen School until the Buddhist Welfare Association took over in the 1970s, when Hong Wen moved to bigger premises,’ says Mr Loh. ‘Now I guess the association has outgrown it too – they’ve moved to Toa Payoh.’

To be called Wanderlust, the 29-room, four-storey establishment will be ’something a little more sophisticated and fun’ than the other hotels in the neighbourhood, and it’s being designed by cutting-edge creative agencies Phunk Studio, Asylum and fFurious, along with architects DP Architects. Each company is responsible for one floor.

On the hotel’s positioning, Mr Loh says: ‘There are very few nice, interesting hotels in Little India, nothing like what we’re doing. They’re all the budget sort, lacking in imagination and not leveraging on the uniqueness of the area. This is a really authentic part of Singapore, so I thought it’d be nice to do something special.’

No surprise then, that Wanderlust aims to bat creativity out of the park with visual treats like Asylum-designed bespoke wallpaper printed with modern images of Little India; neon lighting; and heavy play on light and shadow on the various floors. The rooms, to be priced from around $200 to $250 a night, promise to be ‘almost like a playground designed as furniture’: there’s a ‘monster room’, a ‘tree room’ and one with a spaceship concept, and all fittings are being custom-made because of the complex shapes needed.

Says Mr Loh: ‘We’re using fibreglass, concrete, steel, plywood … everything. It’s going to be the first hotel of this sort that I’m doing, as in working with this level of complexity.’

Additionally, the building will house a cantilevered pool on the second storey, as well as a small ground-floor bar and a casual French restaurant helmed by Anthony Yeoh of the Funky Chefs, who does ‘good, solid flavours’, proclaims Mr Loh.

Wanderlust’s site, says the hotelier, reminds him of Keong Saik, where he opened his first hotel, Hotel 1929, in 2003. ‘It was all hotels with hourly rates and brothels back then. In many ways, this area reminds me of that; it’s really local and I like that,’ he explains. As he sees it, going in early – wedged among those motor workshops and coffee shops – is a good thing. ‘You can’t help other people coming in and diluting the flavour,’ says Mr Loh, ‘but for a while, at least, you can capture the magic of an area.’

The Club 28 Ann Siang Road To open in April THOSE not content with just dinner and drinks at Harry’s will be glad to know that they can soon do bed and breakfast there as well: come April, the group behind the Harry’s chain of restaurant-bars will open a hotel under the newly-established Harry’s Hospitality umbrella.

To be called The Club, the 22-room establishment (rack rate: $400 a night) will also house function rooms plus a couple of F&B outlets that include a tapas restaurant, an outdoor terrace and a rooftop bar – necessary revenue-generating elements in such a small project, says Mohan Mulani, chief executive officer of Harry’s Holdings. ‘With a boutique hotel of this size, F&B is quite a key component in the business plan. You can’t just operate it on room sales alone,’ he says, adding that The Club plans to draw ‘a good 60 per cent’ of its revenue from that channel.

The project is a natural extension of his core business, he adds. ‘While it is a bit of a deviation from opening bars, it really isn’t that large of a deviation. And it gives the company a lot more depth also, plus more offerings for the customer.’

Bed and breakfast aside, what those customers will get is the opportunity to experience a bit of Singapore’s history too – The Club will be located in a historic shophouse that, most recently, used to be home to advertising agency Batey. ‘It’s where the Singapore Girl was born,’ says Mr Mulani, referring to the well-known Singapore Airlines campaigns that Batey produced. The area also used to house many remittance centres for the early Chinese immigrants, a fact that the architect Colin Seah of Ministry of Design, which worked on the hotel, played on.

The entrance, for example, will showcase murals that give a sense of what the place was in the past; there will also be features that hint of this history in the rooms, where the ‘modern day nomad and the nomad of yesterday cross paths for a moment’. The other key inspiration in The Club’s design is Singapore’s colonial past, which in one instance takes shape in the form of a larger-than-life Raffles statue standing with his head in the clouds.

Artists who have been involved in other Harry’s projects have also been tapped to contribute to the hotel – artworks from Romanian Valeriu Sepi (who did a mural in Harry’s Boat Quay outlet) and Singaporean Wyn-Lyn Tan, to name a couple, will decorate The Club.

The hotel’s site was selected for two reasons, says Mr Mulani. One, he has a ’soft spot’ for the area as he owned a wine bar there for more than a decade, which he had to give up three years ago when the building it was in was bought over. And two, ‘I hang around here a lot and I think Ann Siang Road is really heaving and happening again’. Even taking into account competition from the other boutique hotels in the Chinatown area, he is upbeat about the success of The Club. ‘With the product that we’re creating, I don’t think we have a very uphill task, in my humble opinion,’ he says.

Wangz Hotel
231 Outram Road
Tel 6595-1388
www.wangzhotel.com

AS the saying goes, third time lucky – and so’s the case with the 20-year-old building that Wangz Hotel is located in. Originally called Tarng Chern Building, the unique barrel-shaped structure used to house offices and a jewellery shop. Some years later, it was renamed Hope Centre and became home to a student hostel and several non-profit organisations. But it is with its third and latest reincarnation that the building has really been revitalised with a fresh new look and a more permanent purpose.

The 41-room, six-storey hotel is owned by the Wang family, who have been involved in property development (including serviced offices) since the 1990s but had not previously done a hotel before Wangz. ‘The idea of opening a boutique hotel had been at the back of our minds, but we hadn’t found a suitable property,’ says director Wang Chang Yuin.

When the family was approached about the Outram Road building, however, they took to it immediately. ‘We were drawn to the strategic location of the building,’ says Mr Wang. ‘It is close to the CBD and Orchard Road, and we like its prominent location. We also like the charm of the art deco buildings in the area.’ In addition, he adds, the hotel is the tallest building in the immediate vicinity and offers great views of the city skyline, particularly from its rooftop.

The decision to develop the site and create ‘a modern hotel that would stand out from the nearby art deco buildings’ was made in 2007; some two years and $8 million later, Wangz Hotel has emerged from its chrysalis of scaffolding. And what a transformation it has undergone: the original dull tiled facade is now all gleaming perforated aluminium, teased by local architects CPG Consultants into a three-way curve to give the building a ‘bulging’ effect and a futuristic look, and its interiors are a cocoon for culture. The spacious rooms – priced from about $228 a night, and stuffed with creature comforts such as pillow-top mattresses, iPod docking stations, goosedown duvets and Molton Brown bath amenities – feature artworks by artists such as Hijran Seyidov, a Dubai resident who counts royalty among his clients; Singaporean Anthony Tan, who is known for his nature-themed abstracts; and contemporary South Indian artist P Gnana, whose works are in the Singapore Art Museum collection.

Apart from studying these aesthetic treats, guests can also have drinks at Halo, the rooftop lounge, dine at in-house restaurant Nectar, or work out in the fully-equipped gym.

Already, the hotel is reporting a 55 to 80 per cent occupancy rate, with most guests coming from Europe, the United States and Australia.

‘There is a growing market for tourists who specifically go to boutique hotels because of the cosy environment and personalised service they offer,’ says Mr Wang. ‘Because of this, and given the usually small number of rooms each boutique hotel has, we think demand for such hotels will remain high.’

Nostalgia Hotel
77 Tiong Bahru Road
Tel 6808-1818
www.hotelnostalgia.com.sg

WITH the warm lighting that spills out of its wooden shutters in the evenings and the comfortable, lived-in buzz that radiates from it, one can easily imagine No 77 Tiong Bahru Road to be a home straight out of the pre-war era. Step inside the perfectly preserved shophouse, however, and a reception area will reveal the truth: the more-than-half-a-century-old building actually forms part of a hotel.

That homely feel is exactly what owner Cornerstone Link, a mining company based in Indonesia, was looking for when it bought the property from developer Lion Properties Group in September, says the hotel’s general manager, James Ting.

He adds that Nostalgia is positioned to feed the growing demand for such boutique accommodation.

‘Travellers are becoming more savvy and most are looking for a unique experience,’ he explains. ‘They no longer crave the monotony of luxury chain hotels but are looking for a different environment with character and charm.’

The appropriately-named Nostalgia Hotel, then, has 50 rooms (some of which are housed in the heritage shophouse and others in a new extension built over what used to be a bird singing corner) and features design and decor inspired both by Singapore’s colonial years as well as the romantic history of the neighbourhood – Tiong Bahru in the past was known as an area where the well-heeled kept their mistresses. It’s ‘old-world charm with a dash of modernism’, as Mr Ting puts it, which translates to lush fabrics, furniture in warm colours, gilded mirrors and chandeliers, set against a backdrop of specially commissioned contemporary artwork by a local artist and other modern touches.

The rooms, which are priced from about $215 per night, are equipped with cutting-edge conveniences like LCD TVs and iPod docking stations, as well as bath amenities by French designer Pascal Morabito or Chopard, depending on the category of room. Meanwhile, in the Balcony rooms, which are situated in the heritage bit of the hotel and overlook the junction of Tiong Bahru Road and Seng Poh Road, architects AMC Architects International have preserved the original louvered windows, wooden panels and wall artifacts of the original structure.

The new-old juxtaposition is intended to ‘reflect the existent community of Tiong Bahru’, a mature estate in a modern age, says Mr Ting. ‘We want to echo the cultural and historical values of the area and allow guests to experience the Singapore of yesteryear comfortably; as such, Nostalgia provides accommodation that reflects the essence of Singapore in a luxurious environment.’

Source: Business Times, 30 Jan 2010

Singapore has regained its ranking as the most globalised economy in 2009, beating economic giants such as the United States, China and Japan.

This is based on the latest Globalisation Index, compiled by Ernst & Young and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The study covered 60 of the world’s largest countries and had polled 520 senior business executives, with in-depth interviews conducted with 30 senior executives and high-level experts.

The index measures a country’s degree of globalisation relative to their gross domestic product. It is based on five criteria – trade openness, capital movements, exchanges of technology and ideas, labour movements and cultural integration.

Singapore has been ranked number one since 2003, but it lost out to Hong Kong in 2008 and came in second.

In regaining its top spot, Singapore has high scores for its trade openness and labour movement, but lost out to Hong Kong on capital movements and cultural integration.

This time, Hong Kong was edged into second spot, with Switzerland in seventh place, while the United States came in at 24th in the index ranking.

Ernst & Young Country Managing Partner Steven Phan said: “There was greater movement of capital and finance in Hong Kong in terms of foreign direct investments (FDI), where as Singapore has done relatively well in the areas of investment protection schemes and creating a level playing field for all enterprises.

“Singapore is number one in terms of the movement of goods and services relative to all the other 60 countries we surveyed, so this is really the imports and the exports relative to the size of our small domestic market. So that was a strong indicator, but among the other four criteria as well, we are consistently among the top.”

Source: Channel News Asia, 29 Jan 2010

Singapore’s housing authority said Permanent Residents may soon be subjected to a similar ethnic integration policy already imposed on citizens who buy public flats.

Observers say the move is reflective of Singapore’s changing demographics, where about a third of the population are foreigners.

But there’s already a racial quota for PRs in the purchase of public housing.

A shopping centre in Boon Lay in western Singapore gives an idea of the community it serves. It is filled with facilities for its foreign clientele including remittance units, money changers and provision shops catering to Thai and Myanmar nationals.

Tending one of the shops is a 52-year-old from Myanmar who has been living in Singapore for 15 years.

Like many PRs, Madam Yin Yin Winn, who peppers her sentences with the colloquial term “la” considers Singapore home.

In fact, she made several Singaporean friends while volunteering at her daughters’ school.

Madam Winn says her daughters, aged 19 and 16, go to neighbourhood schools.

“When I go to my daughter’s school, I talk with them, sometimes I bring our traditional food, they enjoy my food,” she said.

Like most Singaporeans, Madam Winn lives in a subsidised public flat, which is also subjected to an Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP).

Prior to the 1960s, various immigrant ethnic groups were concentrated in different parts of Singapore creating enclaves. So the Government introduced the Ethnic Integration Policy. This is where public housing is used as a tool to integrate Singapore’s multi-ethnic population.

The EIP is applicable to the purchase of new flats, resale flats, SERS (Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme) replacement flats and DBSS (Design, Build & Sell Scheme) flats, as well as the allocation of rental flats in all HDB estates.

Under the policy, maximum proportions are set for all ethnic groups – Chinese, Malays, Indians and others, in each HDB block and neighbourhood.

There is no restriction on the sale and purchase of an HDB flat if the proportion of the buyer’s ethnic group is within the prescribed block and neighbourhood limits.

Once the block/neighbourhood limit for a particular ethnic group has been reached, no further sale of HDB flats to that ethnic group will be allowed, if it will lead to an increase of the proportion beyond the limit.

There is no restriction if the buyer and seller are of the same ethnic group.

Currently, PRs are already subjected to the policy according to their race.

For example a China national may fall under the ‘Chinese’ category and an Indian national under ‘Indian’.

What could change is expanding it to account for the immigrant’s nationality.

Mr Eugene Tan, Assistant Professor at the School of Law at the Singapore Management University, said: “The fear is that Permanent Residents are forming enclaves of Permanent Residents. What it would mean is that Permanent Residents could be subjected to two types of quotas. One is the original ethnic integration quota, and the other one could be a citizen/Permanent Resident quota.”

Mr Azhar Ghani, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, questions how an ethnic integration policy will affect Malaysian PRs.

“Malaysian PRs, whom I would say are quite acculturalised to our ways, who will face a new restriction to where they can buy HDB flats. This proposed change will just add another additional layer to the EIP categorisation, and current technology would mean that it would not be too big a challenge administratively to ensure adherence,” he said.

“So will PRs who have been here for many years but have not taken up citizenship for whatever reasons, be subjected to the new PR-related rule, in addition to the race quota, when they buy a HDB flat? Should there be a time-bar? For example, will the rule apply only to PRs who have been here for less than, say, five years?,” he asked.

The first indication that the Government is looking into the integration of foreigners within Singapore’s housing estates was revealed by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan in Parliament in November 2009.

He said the Government “will keep a close watch on the distribution of PRs living in HDB estates and where necessary, consider measures to prevent the congregation of PRs and foreigner.”

Currently, PRs form only 5 percent of HDB households.

And housing analysts say that’s unlikely to create any surge in home prices.

Mr Eugene Lim, Associate Director of ERA Asia Pacific, said: “No issue, it’s just like the current ethnic integration policy, doesn’t affect re-sale prices because the number of PRs who would be buying flats are still there. It’s just “Oh, if I cannot buy this block, I buy another block.””

“I think some people are under the impression that PRs are driving up the prices. It is not, it’s the whole market, that there’s a lot of people buying flats that’s together driving up the price.” Mr Lim said.

“Actually if you look by and large, the PRs, if they do congregate – actually they are all over the place – they are very practical group of people. They buy where they can afford. They buy where they need to stay near to, for example, a place of work or school.

“But because to them, if they feel a fellow countryman is staying nearby, they do build a community. So there’s this issue of – what if there are too many of them staying at a certain place? So it’s really looking forward, if we have more and more PRs coming, how do we then have a ratio to ensure they are spread out in Singapore?” Mr Lim asked.

Still, observers say even with an ethnic integration policy in place, the true test is in the community bonds forged between citizens and immigrants.

Source: Channel News Asia, 29 Jan 2010

THE Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will be launching a transitional office site at Mohamed Sultan Road for sale in around two weeks’ time, after a developer committed to pay at least $9.33 million for it.

The bid, which works out to $94 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), is double that which URA received in 2008 when it last tried to sell the site. This has raised a few eyebrows, considering the soft state of affairs in the office market.

The 15-year-leasehold office site has a site area of 66,482 sq ft and a maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of 99,728 sq ft. It can accommodate a four-storey building.

DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah believes that the parcel stood out because of its location, which is not too far from the central business district and is near entertainment spots at Clarke Quay. Companies in the creative industry may find the site attractive, she said.

Cushman & Wakefield Singapore managing director Donald Han agrees that the site’s location is appealing. Given the relatively high offer, he suggests that the bidder could be a firm looking to own and occupy the site, or a developer which ‘knows the game, and is confident of developing transitional office sites’.

He added that the bidder could be expecting a recovery in the office market and as a result, higher rents in future, after the development on the office site is ready around the second half of 2011.

Leasing activity in the office market has picked up in the last few months as the economy stabilised. ‘Although we expect office rents to continue to slide perhaps to the end of this year or early next year, the worst is probably over,’ says Mrs Ong. ‘There’s a lot more confidence.’

But both consultants do not expect to see many other bidders for the site when the tender is launched. With this bid being so much higher than the previous one, ‘there could be some segments saying ‘it’s not cheap’,’ Mr Han quipped.

URA had launched the site for sale in August 2008 when it was on the confirmed list. It received one bid of $4.65 million or $47 psf ppr from RSP Architects Planners & Engineers, but rejected it as it was too low. URA transferred the site to the reserve list in October that year.

The agency last sold a transitional office site at Scotts Road/Anthony Road in May 2008, for $32.99 million or $226 psf ppr.

Separately, owners of the freehold residential development Holland Hill Lodge have put their estate up for collective sale. The asking price ranges from $15 million to $16 million, and this translates to a land price of $1,038-$1,107 psf ppr, based on a gross plot ratio of 1.6.

The site measures some 9,033 sq ft and the existing GFA of the development is 18,086 sq ft. The owners are checking with the authorities on whether this GFA can be fully utilised upon redevelopment.

Credo Real Estate is marketing the site and the tender closes on Feb 25.

Source: Business Times, 29 Jan 2010

I READ with interest Wednesday’s letter by Mr Robin Chua, ‘Costly flats – How did it come to this?’

Mr Chua appears to allude to the fact that the procreation rate has not risen because of higher prices of public housing, and ‘mixed signals’ in which young couples are urged to marry and have children early to help increase the procreation rate but then told indirectly to wait five years to buy a flat and start a family.

Without doubt, there have been calls to stop the practice of high cash over valuation (COV) and lower HDB resale prices. My take is that things should remain as they are and be dictated by market forces.

My paternal grandparents bought their first HDB flat in Bedok in the 1970s for about $7,000 – a sum that was paid in full in cash. Today, that three-room flat in a mature estate could be sold for $200,000 or more.

I believe elderly Singaporeans who bought such flats would be thankful they can cash out and unlock the value of their fully paid-up flats to see them through their remaining years.

Other Singaporeans who bought their flats later, say in the 1980s, would also be exuberant as they can capitalise on the capital appreciation of their HDB flats to downgrade to smaller units and use the savings for retirement and other needs.

A case in point is the Lease Buyback Scheme, where Singaporeans living in three-room flats can unlock the value of their homes and live on regular monthly payments from the authorities. This mechanism shows how the housing system can enrich Singaporeans when they reach retirement age and that citizens have a stake in the country and their well-being is not forgotten.

Another group who would have benefited from high HDB resale prices and COV prices is those who were caught in the property craze of 1996-1997. Some Singaporeans bought their HDB flat at a peak, and the value of their home tumbled. In negative equity then, these owners must now be relieved and thankful for the system, plus other external factors that steered them back to positive territory.

In essence, these factors play a part in stimulating economic activity where sellers of HDB resale flats with excess cash and housing agents with their sales commission contribute to gross domestic product figures with their spending. When this happens, the economy is buoyant, jobs are created, people are employed and confidence is restored.

Again, my take is that we are fortunate to have a system to help citizens secure an HDB flat tailored to suit their household income, have a stake in the country and ensure capital appreciation of their assets which will come in handy for future needs.

Irwan Jamil

Source: Straits Times, 29 Jan 2010

A SHORT-TERM office site on Mohamed Sultan Road that the Government failed to sell two years ago has garnered renewed interest.

A developer has agreed to put in a bid of $9.33 million for the land – twice the offer that came in for the site in 2008.

The new bid for the 0.62ha spot has triggered a public tender that will start in two weeks’ time, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said yesterday. It did not identify the developer.

Located between Kim Yam Road and Martin Road, the site can host a four-storey building with a total floor area of almost 100,000 sq ft. It is being sold with a shorter-than-usual 15-year lease.

In August 2008, the URA put the site up for sale without waiting for a developer to make an offer. That was to ease a space crunch that was sending office prices soaring. But the financial crisis struck the next month, resulting in only one bid coming in, at $4.65million. The URA rejected the bid as too low.

Since then, the office market has slumped and is just starting to turn the corner. Prices rose 1 per cent in the final quarter of last year, the first increase in six quarters, according to URA data.

But property consultants do not see the fresh interest as a sign of brighter days for the market.

Mr Li Hiaw Ho, executive director of CBRE Research, said there is still more than ample supply of office space over the next few years, so the bidder for this site is more likely to be a company that needs office space rather than a developer anticipating an upturn in the market.

Separately, a housing site has also been put up for sale by its owners. Holland Hill Lodge, an 11-unit freehold development in Holland Hill, has been launched for collective sale.

The estate, built in the mid-1990s, sits on a 9,033 sq ft site with an existing gross floor area of 18,086 sq ft, said marketing agent Credo Real Estate yesterday. All the owners have agreed to the sale and are asking for $15 million to $16 million, or $1,038 to $1,107 per sq ft of gross floor area.

Source: Straits Times, 29 Jan 2010

WELLNESS provider Mary Chia is looking to move into the hotel business with the launch of a new integrated hotel and lifestyle centre.

The company has entered into a joint venture with businessman Lee Boon Leng, the son-in-law of executive chairman Mary Chia, to set up a firm called Hotel Culture.

It has paid $20 million for three properties on Mosque Street that will be converted into a combined hotel, lifestyle and wellness centre. There will also be a food and beverage business on the 21,399 sq ft site.

Mary Chia is slated to run the beauty, facial, spa and massage business, Mr Lee will be responsible for the food and beverage aspect, while a third party will be appointed to manage the hotel.

The 92-room integrated hotel, which is to emerge from the four-storey conservation shophouses, is expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year.

Mary Chia chief executive Wendy Ho said the property in the heart of the Chinatown heritage zone would charge between $150 and $180 per night and benefit from the tourist flow generated by the integrated resorts.

‘We are targeting people… who will enjoy all the spa, F&B and entertainment facilities combined with a boutique hotel stay,’ she added.

Ms Ho is bullish about her company’s investment, citing positive feedback from the surveys it has conducted.

The bulk of the $20 million bill for the property will be funded by $16 million worth of bank loans, with Mary Chia and Mr Lee extending another $3.5 million to Hotel Culture as shareholders’ loans.

The remaining $500,000 will come from the paid-up share capital of Mary Chia and Mr Lee’s stakes in the company.

Mary Chia paid $255,000 for its 51 per cent stake in Hotel Culture, while Mr Lee owns the remaining 245,000 shares. The loans extended are proportionate to their shareholdings.

Ms Ho said most of the firm’s investment would come from its initial public offering, which succeeded in raising $3.9 million last August.

‘We believe it is a worthwhile investment, and we will look into our costing,’ she said. The firm reported a net profit of $119,000 for the six months ended June last year.

Restaurant operator, Taste Paradise, which currently operates at two of the three units Hotel Culture is acquiring, has confirmed that it will be moving out.

Source: Straits Times, 29 Jan 2010

THE Law Ministry’s reply on Thursday (‘En bloc sale panels already have a lifespan’) to my letter on Monday (‘Save owners from sword of Damocles’) has not addressed the following problem.

As I understand it, a collective property sale expires one year after the first subsidiary proprietor has signed the collective sale agreement. However, until this signing process is triggered, a collective sale committee has, in legal fact, indefinite tenure.

Which means that even if it chooses to stay around for 20 years, legally there is no mechanism to disband it automatically.

The ministry suggests that the owners can do so by holding an annual general meeting (AGM) or extraordinary general meeting to do so. No doubt this is so. This means that those who oppose a collective sale must become active in collecting signatures and rally for votes.

My question is: Shouldn’t the law be refined to have an automatic mechanism to disband a sale committee, which has, after say 12 months, not even collected that first signature?

This is a loophole in the law which should be addressed. No committee should have carte blanche to exist indefinitely.

The law is clear on management councils. These must be dissolved and re-elected at an AGM and have a limited tenure of one year.

Why should collective sale committees be allowed to operate indefinitely unless they choose to dissolve themselves or are booted out?

In my condo, the collective sale committee is restarting the process after 27 months. One member has sold and others have moved out of their condo units.

More than 10 per cent of the residents are new owners. They did not vote in this committee.

Moreover, the agents say they need even more time to ‘evaluate’ the situation.

Unless legal deadlines are set, those who want to stay on live with this situation hanging over their heads. I hope the ministry will consider a revision of the rules.

Susan Prior (Ms)

Source: Straits Times, 29 Jan 2010